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Gallery: 2016 Le Mans MotoGP

Action photos from the 2016 Grand Prix of France with quotes from the top riders

May 9, 2016

The 2016 Grand Prix of France at Le Mans was a dramatic event and changed the world championship points standings significantly. Scroll through the gallery below to see our favorite photos from the race, along with quotes from all the top riders and details on how the race played out.

Movistar Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo (99) qualified on pole with a new lap record and was never headed during the race, eventually winning by more than 10 seconds and taking over the lead in the championship standings. "I’m very happy with this victory," said Lorenzo, "because everything has been almost perfect. In the race I knew Marquez had the chance to fight for the victory with me, or if he wasn’t very fast, he would have been second or third and that would have meant he would still have kept his first position in the championship, but he crashed."Courtesy of Movistar Yamaha

Andrea Dovizioso (4) and Andrea Iannone (hidden) were close to Lorenzo in the opening laps but couldn't keep pace.Courtesy of Movistar Yamaha

Ducati riders Iannone and Dovizioso briefly battled over second. Dovizioso started well from the second row of the grid, while Iannone did not from the front row. On lap six, Iannone passed his teammate for second.Courtesy of Ducati

Just one lap later, Iannone was the first of the top runners to crash out of the race, losing the front end. "What happened is very strange," said Iannone, "because I pushed harder in the early laps to overtake Dovi under braking than when I was behind Lorenzo and trying to reduce the gap. But the behavior of the front tire is always difficult to predict and you never know how much confidence you have."Courtesy of Ducati

Both Valentino Rossi (46) and Marc Marquez (behind Dovizioso) made up ground on the remaining factory Ducati rider, Rossi coming from the second row of the gird. Rossi passed Marquez to take over third position on lap 13, and on the next lap passed Dovizioso for second. "I started quite badly from the third row so at the beginning it was very complicated," said Rossi. I had a quite good pace so I was able to push and I was quite fast, but you have to stay quiet because it was very easy to make some mistakes. Step by step I arrived to the back of Marquez and Dovi and at that moment I was a bit faster."Courtesy of Movistar Yamaha

In a bizarre scenario, Dovizioso and Marquez crashed at the exact same time on lap 16. "I was in the group following Lorenzo and trying to understand where it was possible to try and attack Rossi," said the Ducati rider. "But at the entry to Turn 7 the front tire lost grip and I found myself on the ground. After analyzing the telemetry, we saw that I had a lean angle that was only two degrees higher than the previous laps, but, even without taking this into account, the tires were working quite well this weekend. Unfortunately it is a characteristic of theirs to not give any warning when they lose grip, and I crashed."Courtesy of Ducati

While Dovizioso was unable to continue, Marquez remounted and carried on to finish the race in 13th spot for three championship points. "I was having a good race, but these things can happen when you’re at the limit on every lap," said the Repsol Honda rider. "I could have opted for a more conservative race, but here you can end up far back if you do that, so today I had to take risks. In the race I saw that I was losing ground under acceleration, and I had to make that back with my braking. Finally I lost the front and crashed."Courtesy of Repsol Honda

Rossi carried on in a lonely second place for the remainder of the race, eventually finishing 10 seconds behind Lorenzo. "I’m so happy, because when you start from seventh position and you take twenty points it’s very good," he said. "Also because they are twenty very important points. In the championship I’m twelve points behind Jorge and seven behind Marc. This means that between us three the championship is wide open and we have to concentrate."Courtesy of Movistar Yamaha

Meanwhile, further down the order, Suzuki Ecstar riders Aleix Espargaro (41) and Maverick Vinales (25) battled over seventh place in the early laps. This became the battle for sixth when Iannone crashed, then the battle for third when Marquez and Dovizioso crashed. Vinales remained strong for the remainder of the race and finished on the podium, Suzuki's first since returning to MotoGP competition last year. Espargaro faded to finish sixth. "I did a good start and could keep a good pace for the early laps," said Espargaro, "then I felt something strange on the front tyre and couldn’t push as hard as I wanted. I saw the board with the gaps and I decided to conduct a wise race, holding the place and getting home safe with some championship points."Courtesy of Suzuki

Vinales celebrates his first MotoGP podium finish and Suzuki's first since 2008. "Until yesterday I was very worried about the race," he said, "but I must thank my crew and all Suzuki’s engineers who didn’t give up and developed a solution during the night that proved to be effective. We are doing a very intense job and this podium is a reward for my efforts and those done by the whole crew and Company.”Courtesy of Suzuki Ecstar

Dani Pedrosa suffered a crash in qualifying that forced him to start from the fourth row of the grid. The Repsol Honda rider was as low as 11th in the early laps, but forged his way through the field (and took advantage of the race attrition) to finish fourth. "At the beginning of the race today we did not have good grip and it was hard to get enough of a feeling to go a little faster," he said. "The second part of the race went better, and there were some laps in which I even rode quicker than Rossi's pace, but it was too late. What makes a difference is starting well, starting high up on the grid and putting in good opening laps.”Courtesy of Repsol Honda

Monster Tech 3 Yamaha rider Pol Espargaro qualified on the second row but was shuffled back to eighth position in the early laps. He passed his brother Aleix on lap 21 and finished in fifth position, his best result of the season to date. "After our strong performance in all the sessions I hoped to be a bit closer to the leading guys," he said. "However, after the Moto2 race, the track became really greasy and the bike slid so much especially during acceleration so it was quite tricky to ride. Moreover, I was not fully comfortable with the brakes during the whole race and I made several mistakes like running wide a couple of times. It’s a pity because we worked really well in the morning warm up, but finally in the race, my feelings just weren’t quite the same like in the practice sessions, so we could not repeat our pace."Courtesy of Tech 3

Pramac Ducati rider Danilo Petrucci finished in seventh place in his return to MotoGP action after injuring himself at the Phillip Island test before the season began. Hector Barbera, on the Avintia Ducati, finished in eighth.Courtesy of Michelin